What a day...
After getting home from Hawaii Friday afternoon, I had to get everything all ready to take my daughter Whitney out for opening day of rifle elk season in search of her first bull. Going off some intel that was too good to ignore (basically, if you’re on this landing at daylight, you’ll kill a bull) I knew we had to make damned sure we were there first. So with the alarm set for 12:15am, I got a few hours of sleep (after getting none on the flight home), and Whit and I were on the road at 1:00am. After getting to the gate and getting everything ready, we headed in at 3:30 on our 3 mile, steep uphill trek to the top. We got there at 5:00 and parked the bikes on the short spur we were planning to hunt. It was super windy with some rain and hail, plus a little thunder and lightning, so with the bikes in place to claim the spur road, we took refuge back in the timber out of the wind, under some trees against the road bank and shivered there in the fetal position for 2.5hrs until it was time to head to the landing. We get down to the landing and right when you can just start to see, I spot what looks like 3 elk across the canyon, feeding in a clearcut. One of the light colored spots finally moves, confirming my suspicion. So now, we’ve got to get as close as we can, which means heading down the ridge that angles toward the elk. At this point we don’t even know if there’s a bull, but one of them is noticeably bigger and blonder than the other 2. As we were headed down the ridge I looked back and said “I bet you’re not cold anymore, are ya!?” She said “nope!” 😂 We got in position with the tripod downhill so she could sit down and shoot. She nestled in behind my 300RUM as I confirmed the bigger one was indeed a legal bull. It was starting to move a bit so I kept ranging it and adjusting the dial on the scope. I told her whenever he stops broadside and you’re comfortable, go ahead and take the shot. The last range I got was 441yds and he walked another 10yds or so. I reached down and set the Zeiss to 5moa and she settled in on him and sent a 200gr Accubond across the draw, right on the money. I have never seen a bull drop dead like that and not even twitch. It took a while to get over and around to it because my buddies Jacob and Michael were watching two other bunches that were just off the road that we would need to come down to get over there, so we didn’t want to mess up their hunt. Someone else shot one of the bulls they were getting ready to shoot, so I told Jacob someone needs to get over here because now we can see that both the elk that were with Whitney’s bull are also legal bulls. So Jacob came over and snuck down on top of them and killed one, which Whit and I got to watch unfold from across the draw. Michael was also able to get his girlfriend on a bull, which she killed, so we now have 3 bulls down all within a quarter mile of each other. After some phone calls and Facebook inquiries, we had plenty of help on the way. We finally reached reached the bull and went to work on it, which was a real pain in the &@$ on the face of this steep clearcut with basically zero flat spots. After getting his horns untangled and out from underneath him, we managed to roll him down to the next spot where a stump would stop him. We took the meat off one side and then had to yank him out from behind the stump so he could slide down to the next stump that would catch him, while rolling him over as he slides. It was not an ideal situation lol. We got the meat all bagged up Jacob helped me pack it down to the road. Then all the help started showing up. My uncle and cousin came to help and since Jacob and Michael had help showing up, we weren’t going to need to make another 8 mile round trip...PHEWWW! Whit got to experience the best feeling ever....finally setting that pack on the tailgate 😂. It was a great day with great people. Whit got the full experience and got to see the lengths you need to go to be successful in a very competitive season and area. I told her “It’s going to absolutely suck. We have to get up super early and you’re going to be cold, wet, and miserable, but we HAVE to be there before anybody else.” She was a trooper, going off just a nap on the way there. On the way home, while still wet, sore, and exhasted, she said she can’t wait for next year! I’m one happy Dad.
